Gorgeous pictures of The 9/11 Memorial Tribute In Light seen from Roosevelt Island last night. Kristi Towey shares this picture from the Roosevelt Island Bridge
and Ellen Polivy shows us the view from the Roosevelt Island waterfront promenade.
Check out scenes from Roosevelt Island's morning and evening 9/11 Remembrance gatherings.
Juan Carlos Garzón shares this beautiful photo of the World Trade Center 9/11 Memorial Tribute In Light being tested last night seen from Roosevelt Island.
Tribute in Light is a commemorative public art installation first presented six months after 9/11 and then every year thereafter, from dusk to dawn, on the night of September 11. It has become an iconic symbol that both honors those killed and celebrates the unbreakable spirit of New York....
WPIX Channel 11 News has a behind the scenes look at the 9/11 Tribute In Light testing
UPDATE 9/12 - Here's video of the joint Roosevelt Island Operating Corp (RIOC) and Roosevelt Island Residents Association (RIRA) 9/11 Remembrance yesterday morning.
And Ellen Polivy shares this photo of the 9/11 Memorial Tribute In Lights seen last evening from the Roosevelt Island waterfront promenade.
The Roosevelt Island Twitterverse reports:
— Ed Schaefer (@TheFamousMrE) September 6, 2018More on the 9/11 Tributes In light here.
Nathaniel Phillips shares this incredible photo of the World Trade Center Tribute In Light seen from Roosevelt Island yesterday. It's beautiful.
Jenny Raptor shares this photo of the 9/11 World Trade Center Towers Tribute In Light Seen from behind the Roosevelt Island Lighthouse
Ms Raptor adds:Saw the #TributeInLight from two boroughs #RooseveltIsland #BrooklynPromenade It is always beautiful pic.twitter.com/9fBBjihyxI— Jenny Raptor (@EMT4333) September 12, 2016
We went to see the Tribute in Light because I was an EMS first responder and survivor at the Twin Towers. It was a very special night for us.Here's the Roosevelt Island Lighthouse in daytime
and a brief history of the Lighthouse from the Roosevelt Island Historical Society (RIHS):Pls forward all mail to the Roosevelt Island lighthouse, where I now live pic.twitter.com/Sy3xyLz73Z— Corinne Segal (@cesegal) September 13, 2016
... This small lighthouse stands at the northern tip of Roosevelt Island on a projection of land which was at one time a tine separate island connect connected to the main one by a wooden bridge. Local legend maintains that during the 19th century a patient from the nearby Lunatic Asylum was permitted to build a stone fort on this outcropping since he feared an invasion by the British. When plans were formulated to build the lighthouse, this patient allegedly was persuaded to surrender the fort only AFTER much cajoling and a bribe of bogus money. The tale continues that the patient himself demolished the fort and built the new lighthouse, carving the inscription:Click here for more information on the Roosevelt Island Lighthouse from RIHS.
... This is the work Was done by John McCarthy
Who built the Light House from he bottom to the Top
All ye who do pass by may Pray for his soul when he dies....
Today is the 15th Anniversary of the September 11, 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center Towers, the Pentagon and the downing of Flight 93 in Shanksville Pennsylvania.
Sharon Williams shares this photo taken last night of the Tribute In Light seen from Roosevelt Island and tweets:
Walking on @Rooseveltisland last night saw #WTC #TwinTowers memorial twin light beams. #clouds #9/11 #NeverForget pic.twitter.com/QVL1d9Qgw8— Sharon Lee Williams (@Sharon3williams) September 11, 2016
Here's what the World Trade Center attacks looked like from Roosevelt Island on September 11, 2001.Join me inside the #WTC #TributeInLight & take moment to honor all the victims of 9/11. #Honor911 🇺🇸#15YearsLater pic.twitter.com/vNiV1GIFl8— NYPD 1st Precinct (@NYPD1Pct) September 11, 2016
Ed Beyea,
Anthony J. Fallone,
Taimour Khan,
Scott Larsen,
Kevin J. Smith and the firefighters who were based on Roosevelt Island
Deputy Chief Ray Downey,
Deputy Chief Charlie Kasper,
Battalion Chief John Moran, and
Battalion Chief John Paolillo.
— Heather M. Briere (@HeatherBriere) September 12, 2016
#september11 #tributeinlight as seen from Roosevelt Island @ Roosvelt Island ny https://t.co/QmeYRbjClB— ScottyP (@scottpiro) September 12, 2016
Nathaniel Phillips shares these beautiful pictures
From the Roosevelt Island Twitterverse
View of Midtown at 3:30am from Roosevelt Island #NeverForget pic.twitter.com/XnaGyp6tJX
— Bop Thompson (@m00n_bounce) September 12, 2013
Reported last September 12:
... According to the Municipal Arts Society (MAS), the Tribute In Light:Here's the Tribute In Light as seen from a Roosevelt Island rooftop tonight
is one of the most powerful and healing works of public art ever produced. The majestic blue twin beams are presented annually by MAS, shining from dusk on September 11, through dawn the next day. Visible within a sixty-mile radius on a clear night, Tribute has become a world-renowned icon of remembrance, honoring those who were lost, as well as those who worked so hard to get our city through that terrible trial....
Roosevelt Island’s Own “9/11” MEMORIAL
On 11 September 2001, many in the United States awakened to the reality of a threat against this country. While there was a lot of disbelief and just a whole range of emotions, the fact was that this country suddenly seemed smaller and vulnerable. We had been hit and many died. The most visible of the victims found themselves in and or over three locations - - New York City’s World Trade Center, Washington (DC)’s Pentagon (actually in Virginia) and a field in Shanksville, Pennsylvania. Many were flying passengers unable to prevent the planes’ arrival on target and some made a brave decision (“let’s roll”) to thwart the hijackers. Many were our first responders, many were neighbors trying to help, and many were ordinary citizens trying to escape the tragedy. They were and are all heroes. Though these victims’ lives were cut short, their memories will live forever amongst us on this earth.
Here on Roosevelt Island, we too have continued to memorialize those who lost their lives that tragic day in 2001.
Image of 2011 9/11 Memorial Service From Dave Evans
The Roosevelt Island Operating Corporation, along with the Roosevelt Island Residents Association Common Council, led a ceremony on Sunday evening culminating in the names called of I believe nine individuals who lived here or worked here,
Image of Roosevelt Island Memorial Plaque From Roosevelt Island 360
candles lit in their honor and placed in our own meticulously maintained Remembrance Garden,
a candle-laced procession to the water
Image from Main Street Wire nyc10044
where we reflected quietly, looked to the future and listened to the sounds of a trumpet. I am glad Andy did not play “taps”, but more on that later. Lynne Shinozaki
Image of RIRA's Lynn Shinozaki
and others put together a splendid ceremony inspired by songs from a wonderful spiritual choir,
Image of Choir Singers From Dave Evans
Asher Elbaz's premier piece,
Image of Ascher Elbaz From Dave Evans
and a Katz guitar
Image Of RIRA President Matt Katz From Dave Evans
as the nicely sized, candle-holding crowd filled the square along side and behind our landmark Chapel.
Images From Dave Evans
I used to limit my own reflections to the area of the Pentagon, a place one would never think could be in the “cross-hairs” of such a successful attack. In fact, when I walked the corridors of that five-sided structure, there was a feeling of invulnerability, invincibility. However, this country was quickly awakened on “9/11” to the reality of vulnerability. Our subsequent responses have recognized that and each day, while we try to press forward with our daily lives, we must not forget that the achievement of peace can be elusive and that it requires strong efforts, sacrifices and sensitive and respectful interactions with citizens of the world of all types. Yes, I was relieved that “taps” was not played because for the first time in ten years, I did not cry in public in the presence of so many other living victims of September 11, 2001.
The September 11 World Trade Center Tribute In Lights will be turned on Sunday at dusk and stay lit until dawn Monday. According to the Municipal Arts Society (MAS), the Tribute In Light:
is one of the most powerful and healing works of public art ever produced. The majestic blue twin beams are presented annually by MAS, shining from dusk on September 11, through dawn the next day. Visible within a sixty-mile radius on a clear night, Tribute has become a world-renowned icon of remembrance, honoring those who were lost, as well as those who worked so hard to get our city through that terrible trial.Here's how it's done
Friday, September 11, 2009
Memorial Service on Roosevelt Island
Sponsored by Roosevelt Island Residents Association
Sunset Service Commencing at 7:00 p.m.
At the 9/11 Remembrance Garden
Behind the Chapel of the Good Shepherd
Please plan to join your neighbors and Please bring your own candle! (In the event of rain, the Memorial will take place inside Good Shepherd Chapel)
Images of Roosevelt Island's Remembrance Garden...The cherry tree, planted a month after the tragedy, is surrounded by flowers, most planted by members of the Residents Association a few days before the dedication. A single wood bench faces the tree and plaque. Vicki Feinmel, the member of the Residents Association Common Council who organized the memorial and the event, said, “Everyone wanted to do something meaningful and have something permanent on the Island to honor the people we lost from the Island....the plaque that honors those Roosevelt Islanders who died in the terrorist attack:
Ed Beyea, Anthony J. Fallone, Taimour Khan, Scott Larsen, and Kevin J. Smith – as well as firefighters who were based on Roosevelt Island – Deputy Chief Ray Downey, Deputy Chief Charlie Kasper, Battalion Chief John Moran, and Battalion Chief John Paolillo.
Image from Roosevelt Island 360Each year Roosevelt Island holds its own 9-11 memorial service behind the Chapel of the Good Shepherd. This year the service, sponsored by RIRA, begins at 7:30 pm.Here is my post from 9/11 last year.
I hope that you and your families are all OK. If you know any of our friends who are injured or missing, please let me know.And this on Saturday, September 15 ,2001:
I had the radio on at work, and heard about the first crash right after it happened, and we followed it throughout the morning. When the first tower collapsed, I left work, and reported in at the fire department. The City called on the Nassau departments around noon. We were asked to set up a staging area at Belmont Race Track. By the time we got there from Syosset, there were well over 100 engines and trucks there ahead of us. Most of them were being detailed to City firehouses in Brooklyn and Queens, to cover for those companies as they were called into Manhattan.
Syosset has a confined space rescue unit and a collapse rescue unit, as well as a heavy rescue truck (which I'm assigned to), so we were called directly in to the scene. The staging area was around the federal courthouse. From about this point onward, you had to wear a dust mask. The fallout from the collapse was horrendous - a fine, white, powdery dust, together with a heavy smoke condition. As you moved south and got nearer to the Trade Center, the air got darker and heavier. Within a couple of blocks of the Trade Center, it was so dark, you couldn't tell if the Sun was still out.
At first they set us up near City Hall. They were unable to move heavy equipment to the scene because there were fire hoses running across town from the east side to the Trade Center. Our collapse rescue unit is a large panel truck which carries lumber and tools, so we were put to work building ramps over the hoses running across Broadway at Ann Street, Fulton Street, John Street, Maiden Lane and Liberty Street.
Once we reached Liberty Street and secured the hoses there, we were sent down Liberty and were set up at the corner of Liberty and Church, just opposite the spot where 4 World Trade Center had been, by the entrance to 1 Liberty Plaza. All that was left of the building 4 was a portion of the easterly wall, which was broken into shards, and was pitched over Church Street at about a 20 degree angle. All up and down Church Street were the blasted hulks of the trucks and engines from the first responding units. The crews, of course, were all gone. We found out the next day that the
building we were set up under, where the triage unit and food was set up, was deemed to be in danger of collapse, and was evacuated.
There was nothing we could at the collapse site itself. There were still fires burning, and the smoke and dust made it impossible to get far into the rubble. We concentrated on getting a crane set up, and on clearing a plaza across the street, so that debris could be dumped there as clearing began.
The mood was pretty grim. Usually at large fire scenes, the firemen will engage in gross and macabre humor regarding the victims - it's a method of dealing with it - but there was none of that here. Notwithstanding the trucks, bulldozers, cranes, etc. the place was eerily quiet. There was one small humerous incident. At about midnight, I was sitting on the back ofour truck, with my back to the scene. Suddenly, guys were running past me - cops, firemen, construction workers, medics - at least 50 people, running like their lives depended on it. I jumped off the truck and looked back, but couldn't see what the hell they were running from, so I grabbed a firemen and asked him why he was running. He says "Because everyone else is!" A pretty good answer. What had happened was some facing had fallen off the building across the street, and they were afraid that there would be another collpse. It didn't (so far).
We got into the rubble at about 2:00 am, after the wind shifted, and visibility improved. All you could see was steel, concrete, paper and dust. Everything else was pulverized or crushed beyond recognition. There was one exception - office waste paper cans were everywhere. I guess that their lightweight construction caused them to be blown out the windows, and they sailed down slowly, and landed on top. The paper was everywhere in the rubble, and in the blocks around. It was unsettling to see letterheads,memos, etc, from firms whose names you recognize. Our search was entirely fruitless. We found no survivors, or signs that there might be any. I believe that there must be some people still alive in there, but I can't
imagine how anyone is going to get at them. You can not imagine the size of this disaster without seeing it. It's disheartening to work for two hours at moving this stuff, and ten to look around and see how insignificant your effort is.
Our relief crew arrived at 4 am. It's just as well. After breathing this crap in and working all night, we were pretty bushed, and they were looking to get us out of the debris so that the crane could start working anyway.
It's still impossible to grasp the enormity of this catastrophe. There is no retaliation we can take against these people that's ever going to provide a real sense of satisfaction for me personally. It's a fucking waste. It makes me ill to think what people will do when they believe that they have some kind of religious mandate. I hope that ultimately, there will be some kind of victory for common sense and reason from all of this, but historical precedent does not suggest that this will be the case.
At any rate, I hope again that you are all well, and that we can rebuild from this lunacy. Take care of yourselves.
Hey, Bros!It's funny, the emotional gyrations this business puts you through. Theinitial shock, disbelief, anger, disgust are all too much to process effectively. At Topaz we simply stayed at our desks, trying to work while listening to the radio. It was difficult to get any substantial amount of work effectively accomplished, but we felt the need to keep going because it's essential that we all continue to do our jobs. We continued to do what we're paid to do as well as we could because we understood that this was now the priority of the moment and was the best way that we could contribute tothe national well-being. When I came back to work on Thursday, a co-worker said that she was surprised that I stayed at work as long as I did. Of course, it had never occurred to me that the City would call on the volunteer departments until the first tower collapsed.That's all.
The emotional gyrations we went through at the scene were greater by orders of magnitude. There was an inescapable exhilaration that comes from being part of a colossal and historic undertaking; and from being right at the center of it all; from being a trained rescue worker with a defined mission. There was a counterbalancing guilt that this exhilaration on our part coming on the heels of the deaths of hundreds of our brothers who were doing the same job.
There was an immediate sense of satisfaction and accomplishment when we were able to open up Broadway to emergency vehicles and construction equipment simply because we had arrived with a truckful of lumber. This feeling gave way at the end of the night when we actually got to attack the pile of debris. The staggering, indescribable size of this task made our efforts and abilities seem insignificant. As we began to move the stuff, I attempted to do the mental arithmetic concerning the value of my own efforts, but the realization of the insignificance of my own efforts was too depressing to face. I felt like one ant in a colony of ants trying to move
a mountain. So I stopped thinking about it and just kept going.
Afterwards, it occurs to me that the reason that ants are successful is that they just keep going. If you stomp on an anthill, the ants simply clear the corpses and debris out of the way and go on about their business. The colony survives - and prospers - regardless of the assault. We humans don't like to think of ourselves as insignificant parts of a greater whole, but this is how we must view ourselves in a time of crisis. We are always important to ourselves and to our families and friends, but when there's real work to do, you have to stop feeling sorry for yourself, you have to stop being afraid for your own safety and your own well-being and you have
to do your job, regardless of its relative significance to the overall task.
We all have an opportunity to be heroes now, and the method is simple. Show up at your job when you're supposed to. Do your job to the best of your ability. If you were planning to fly somewhere next week - do so! Don't start selling off stock in a panic. Don't start hoarding goods and commodities. Understand that the actual damage inflicted is insignificant in terms of our gross national product. This will only be an economic disaster if we panic. Finally, do not call on the president with demands
for immediate and pointless retaliation. Let him do his job while we do ours.
Keep in touch.
A $103.9 million concrete contract, the largest single construction contract for the National September 11 Memorial and Museum at the World Trade Center, was awarded Thursday to a company in Long Island City, Queens, that has not yet performed work at ground zero.Gothamist reminds us that:
... steel erection for the $530 million memorial is scheduled to begin this summer.
The WTC memorial, officially known as the National September 11 Memorial, was originally scheduled to open next year but is delayed until 2011 (construction began in 2006 but the memorial has been plagued with design changes, controversy and questions).I have always thought that the Tribute in Light is the most moving and appropriate memorial for remembering the events of 9/11/01 and should be the permanent World Trade Center memorial. A poll question on this topic is posted on the right side of the page. The question is "Should the Tribute in Light be made a permanent fixture to the New York City Skyline"?
Today's NY Post has an article on a travelling 9/11 World Trade Center exhibit designed to raise national support for the Memorial. According to the article:
A tour slated for 16 cities attracted thousands in its first two stops over the weekend, in Columbia, S.C., and Raleigh, N.C., where people lined up to sign a steel beam to be part of the memorial.And:
Fund-raising has topped $300 million, with a goal of $350 million for construction by September 2009.To my mind the Tribute in Light continues to be the most moving and appropriate Memorial to that day. There is a poll on this topic in the column on the right below the Statement of Purpose. Image is from USA Today.
I have always thought that the Tribute in Light should be the permanent World Trade Center memorial.
According to the NY Times, The Tribute in Light began:
as a catch-as-catch-can improvisation, this one-night event has become something of a civic tradition. It is the celestial, silent taps that brings a day of remembrance to a close, a shared experience open simultaneously to almost anyone around the city.Also :
Its future seems assured for the next two years. But after that?
''I'd say there's a question mark,'' said Kent L. Barwick, the president of the Municipal Art Society, the organizers of the Tribute in Light.
For one thing, the project may run out of money after 2008. For another, it may lose its current staging area atop the Battery Garage, six blocks south of ground zero; a rare expanse of secure open space downtown. A long-range redevelopment plan for the nearby area, known as Greenwich Street South, calls for demolishing the garage, though this is not on the immediate horizon.
And there is no guarantee that it will have a permanent home at the World Trade Center memorial, which is to open in 2009. ''I haven't heard anybody say, 'Let's forget about this,' '' Mr. Barwick said yesterday. ''At the same time, it has to be addressed.''
...its creators believe the Tribute in Light has an enduring value, in part because its silence and simplicity permit viewers to invest it with their own meaning or message. ''One of the best things about this is that it is what it is,'' Mr. Ahern said. ''There are no speeches attendant to it.''A poll question on this topic is posted on the right side of the page below the Statement of Purpose. The question is "Should the Tribute in Light be made a permanent fixture to the New York City Skyline"?
